No love for ‘Diddy’ on ‘Brother Love’ moniker change

Hip-hop mogul and entrepreneur formally known as Sean John Combs, aka “Diddy,” announced on Nov. 4 via Instagram and Twitter that he was changing his moniker to “Love” aka “Brother Love.”

(Wikimedia)

He posted the change on his social media accounts during his during his 48th birthday celebration in Mexico with friends and family. He noted he was in high spirits for his birthday, and said he felt like he’s not the man he once used to be.

“I’m just not who I’m before, I’m something different,” Combs posted. “I will not be answering to Puffy, Diddy, or any by other monikers.”

Comb’s name change announcement came mere days before he embarked on press tours for his business endeavors.

Combs had predetermined that the choice of his new moniker would be risky and come off as “corny” to some. Immediately after, Twitter users wasted no time condemning his decision to change his name from “Diddy” to “Brother Love,” which had, apparently, already been claimed.

Prichard had already invented and branded himself over the years with the nickname “Brother Love.”

Following the backlash Combs received from Prichard and Twitter wrestling fans for infringing on his original stage name, Combs posted another video to Instagram and Twitter on Nov. 8 retracting this name change, calling it a joke.

“Due to there not wanting to be any confusion I was only joking,” Combs said. “I didn’t change my name it’s just part of one of my alter egos, and one of my alter egos is love. You can still address me by any of my older names, but if you still want to call me Love you can call me Love,”

According to Prichard in a video conference interview with TMZ Sports, he had already been in the process of getting his stage name “Brother Love” trademarked to prevent persons in the future from attempting to steal his gimmick name.

“By him changing his name to me does not really do anything because people should see that the change is in him,” said WSU sophomore Zharia Haile, who was introduced to “Diddy’s” music by her mother while growing up.

“If people can’t tell that you’ve changed and that you are trying to be a better person, then you probably haven’t done that much different,” Haile said, as she shared her thoughts on “Diddy’s” reasoning behind his personality name change.

Comb’s contributions to the music industry brought him fame and popularity in the music industry. Art major at WSU Gabriela Thompson, whose favorite Diddy song is “I’ll Be Missing You,” said, “I grew up listening to music from an artist by the name of P. Diddy Diddy, Puff Daddy, and Sean Combs not Love or Brother Love.”

She continued, “Instantly the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the name Diddy is the legend he is.” Thompson noted the current disconnect between “Diddy” and his new persona “Love.”

Another WSU student, Tabia Morris said, “If it was a publicity stunt it didn’t do well and the timing was off. He should’ve gone for something better and bigger, like when Snoop Dog became Snoop Lion.”

In light of Combs not having released any new music since 2010, Morris doesn’t think an alias name change was warranted.

“He’s just not that big anymore and it really does not matter,” Morris said.

From the 1970s to 2017 Combs has adapted to the names of “Puffy,” “Puff Daddy,” “P. Diddy,” “Sean John,” “Swag,” “Sean,” “Diddy” and “Love.”